The Empire and the Wolf King (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #21)

25. Chapter 25 - Kaitlyn

CHAPTER 25 - KAITLYN

OAKHURST INN - CHARLOTTESVILLE - 1775

I woke up in an inn in the eighteenth century. And once I realized Magnus was awake said, “This is disappointing.”

He joked, “What, this?” He pulled the covers up to give me a glimpse of his morning wood.

“No, that is impressive. I mean the fact that we’re in the Oakhurst and no one else is here, the lack of a rescue committee.”

“Things are complicated, mo reul-iuil, by the lack of workin’ vessels. We ken we hae tae be patient. I am certain Lady Mairead is workin’ on a solution.”

I rolled over and put my chin on his chest, “If no one rescues us, we will be stuck here, what will we do, what’s our backup plan?”

He grinned. “I canna hear yer question over m’desire.”

We kissed long and deeply and then made luxuriously lingering wake-up love in our eighteenth century colonial inn room.

After, he was tightly wrapped around me, his fingers traveling up and down my arm, stroking across my chest, the strokes were calming, loving, and I could almost be lulled back to sleep... but nah, there was too much on my mind… I looked over our room, dark wood furnishings, good bedding, the mattress was comfortable comparatively speaking. There was a clean chamberpot, an oil lamp, it was very nice compared to some of the inns we had stayed in, and clean.

I asked, “What will we do?”

“What will we do, what?”

“What will happen if no one comes?”

He took a deep breath.

“I was just thinking, Magnus, maybe we could have a do-over... not just at Stirling, in medieval time, but an even bigger one.”

“I daena like thinkin’ of do-overs. Tis playin’ God, ye ken, Kaitlyn. We arna God, we are just men; we canna fix things, and tis close tae loopin’. So, I think we need tae wait tae be rescued, then we will fight Asgall, and move forward on the wheel.”

I mumbled, “Mmmhhhhmm, true,” but my mind was going. “But what if we changed things earlier? Maybe before you and Fraoch and Lochie went to rescue Ash? What if we had… I don’t know, gone and fought Asgall first, killed him, and then rescued Ash. That would have solved a lot of issues. Asgall didn’t seem to be able to leave us stranded yet, or…”

“Aye, but I daena see how we could talk Lochinvar from the rescue of his maiden, and that was a moment in which we won. It daena sit right with me tae try tae do it over, there is a chance Arse-gall has gained knowledge. He might fight us, hide Ash better, or shut down our vessels earlier.”

I nodded and rolled over on my back and my eyes went back and forth across the ceiling, still dim in the morning. “But what if we backtrack all the way, to before Ash was kidnapped. I spoke to her at the Palace Saloon the night before. What if I whisk her away. Except I would be looping, probably.... right, I would be looping.”

“Not that I am discussing do-overs, or being a part of it, but if Lochie hadna gone with me tae Riaghalbane, he could hae taken her away from Florida tae safety. Then we could fight Asgall without the maiden being involved.”

I rolled over with my chin on his chest. “That’s the spirit. I knew I could get you to talk about it. I just don’t know if Lochinvar is that persuasive. If I met a guy and slept with him and then he tried to take me away from where I lived — I would get a very serious ‘ick’ from him. I would be frightened. It’s not conducive to falling in love.”

“Maybe in light of all that has happened, maybe that would be all right. If it meant we could fight Asgall and survive and Sean was livin’, maybe Lochie daena get the girl.”

“That sucks.”

“We are just discussin’. As Colonel Quentin likes tae say, ‘there are nae bad ideas.’”

“I don’t like the idea of that idea at all. That’s a bad idea for Lochie and Ash.”

I sighed. “But I can’t get past it — if we went back to before we rescued Ash it would solve a lot… But never mind, okay, what else could we do?”

He brushed my nightgown down my leg and said, “Why are ye so insistent, Kaitlyn? We hae discussed this over and over, wishin’ we could redo what has been done, but we need tae be rescued, we hae tae fight, and… this is something ye need tae ken, none of this is up tae us. We are lost, what does one do when they are lost?”

“Stay put.”

“Aye, and we canna think of what we would hae done differently, twill make us mad.”

“But it’s on my mind. I miss Jack and Isla and Archie and I want to figure this out. I want tae control something, make it better, somehow.”

“Ye are forgetting that if we mess around with the time wheel we might lose people again, twas a tragedy, we barely survived.”

I nodded, my cheek on his chest. “But...”

He exhaled. “What, out with it.”

“We could go to that day just before you and Lochie left for Riaghalbane.”

“I can think of eight things that could go wrong, and ye haena figured out what tae do about Asgall, he would still be at large, do-overs are risky.”

“But we know so much more… right?”

“Nae, we hae never been quite so blind. I daena hae a vessel, I am sendin’ messages through Tommy Jefferson.”

“I just need hope…”

He raised his head and looked down on me, then exhaled long. He dropped his head back on the pillow. “Aye, I understand, I need hope as well, mo reul-iuil, tell me more of yer idea.”

“Well, I am thinking if we intervene before you went to the field at Kippen we might save Sean’s life.”

He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again.

I said, “I know it doesn’t usually work that way, but he’s never time traveled before, he wasn’t supposed to be on that timeline, he wasn’t supposed to die. What if we went back farther, before he time traveled, maybe it would save his life?”

He said, “By that logic, what if I went back and saved Sunny? What if I went back and saved Baldie? I could try tae save Hammond’s life… I would like tae do that… dost ye see, mo reul-iuil, how this can be a path of madness?”

“I do, I do see it.” I circled my finger around on the skin of his chest and added, “It’s just that we were so happy on the deck that night of Ben’s birthday, I wish we could go back there.”

He exhaled. “But a bairn has been born, a marriage has been made, mo reul-iuil, we hae tae move forward.”

“Time rolls on.”

“Aye.”

“Unless it doesn’t.”